“Meow,” she said, with a laugh. “Have you cast your votes for prom king and queen yet?”
“No.”
Janet thrust a paper ballot at me. “Here you go!” She leaned closer. “By the way, don’t feel you need to vote for you-know-who because of you-know-what.”
I squinted in confusion.
“I mean,” she went on, “I’d totally vote for myself if I were you.”
I looked down at the paper. Under nominees for prom queen were four names: Sheena Slater. Stephanie Jones. Faedra Seraphine. Bianca Taylor.
Bianca Taylor. That was me. Why was my name on the voting form? The scene from Carrie replayed in my head again: Pig’s blood falling from above, covering the prom queen from head to toe.
“Who did this?” I hissed at Janet. “Why is my name on this list?”
She took a step back from me, her eyes wide with surprise. “Um, you were nominated. Tonight. At the nomination booth.” She pointed a finger towards a cardboard voting area. “The others were nominated prior, but you won the wildcard spot. I assume because you look so amazing and…everything that’s happened.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well, I don’t want to be prom queen. Can you take my name off the list?”
Janet rolled her eyes. “You know what? Most people would be stoked to be on that list, myself included. And FYI, I have been hovered over a desk counting votes and photocopying papers for the last hour. I could have been drinking spiked punch and dancing to Taylor Swift.” Her voice had grown shrill with anger. “You could at least show some gratitude!”
“Sorry.” It was my turn to take a step back. “I’m just…” I let out a long sigh. “Have you ever seen the film Carrie?”
Her face folded in confusion, then softened in understanding. Of course she’d seen Carrie. She was in all the school plays and directed the last student film—a horror flick. “I totally get it now,” she said, nodding. “Sorry I didn’t think about it like that.”
I shrugged. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”
“Probably. I’d say most people are voting for Sheena anyway. You know, to make a dedication to her. But,” Janet leaned in closer, “just between you and me, I never liked Sheena. She was awful to you but she was a bitch to everyone. Underdog to underdog, I’d like to see you win. How about I go and scope out above the stage, check out back for any signs of a prank?”
“You’d do that?”
“What can I say, I’m a humanitarian.”
If only she knew I wasn’t human. “Thank you,” I said.
“No problem. Just call it my good deed for the day.” She waved as she wandered off towards the stage stairs.
I looked down at the ballot again. Bianca Taylor. There it was. My name, amongst the list of potential prom queens. I smiled. But then a thought floated into my mind, wiping the smile from my face. This would never have happened if Sheena hadn’t died.
“Bianca.” Caleb appeared at my side. “Sorry I took so long. Kyle’s in the bathroom puking his guts out. Turns out he stole a hip flask of vodka from his parents and smuggled it in.”
I cringed. “Oh no. He okay?”
“Yeah, Fae’s in there with him now. She seems to be making him feel better. ”
I laughed. “Yeah, she tends to have that effect on people.”
“And as for David, well, he found Scott and his date.” He pointed into the crowd.
I spotted Scott and Sarah, trying to dance, but a wonky-looking David was draped over them, muttering something into Scott’s ear.
“At least he’s doing better than Kyle!” I laughed, but my smile faded as I remembered the paper ballot in my hand. “Have you seen this?” I handed it to him.
He studied it. His eyes grew wide in excitement. “Hey!” he said, looking up at me. “We’re on here!” He looked again. “Caleb Gillis, prom king. That has a nice ring to it.” He laughed.
“Yeah. I was wondering if you knew anything about it?”
He shook his head. “I’m just as surprised as you.”
“Okay.”
“I get the feeling you’re not super happy about it?” he said putting an arm around me.
“I’ve spent most of my life keeping out of the limelight to avoid being humiliated.”
“Well, maybe it’s time to change that. Maybe this”—he held up the paper—“is a sign that people like you and want good things for you.”
“Maybe. It just feels like a trap.”
Caleb looked at me with gentle eyes. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”
I smiled.
“C’mon,” he said, taking my hand. “Let’s dance.” He pulled me onto the dance floor between a group of emo girls dressed in black sack-like dresses and a group of cheerleaders who glared at me as I passed. Once we were in the middle of the crowd, he drew me in close, placing my hands behind his neck.
“Finally, we can be alone together,” he said, into my ear.
“Alone? What about all these people?”
“I can ignore them,” he said, the acrid tang of alcohol on his breath. “I’ve only got eyes for you.”
I smiled into his shoulder. He caressed my bare back and pulled me into him.
“Bianca, I have to tell you something.” He looked down at me. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for ages.”
“You have?”
“Like literally, ages. Years.”
I smiled up at him as we swayed together to the music. “Why didn’t you?”
He shrugged. “Too shy.”
“Of me?”
He nodded.
“I guess I do suffer from resting bitch-face.”
He laughed. “And you’re intimidating.”
“What? Me? Why?”
Caleb raised his eyebrows. “You don’t see it do you?”
“See what?”
“What I see. You are so beautiful. Your skin, your hair, your eyes, your nature. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Bianca. I’m crazy about you.” He let out a sigh. “I’ve wanted to say that for so long.”
My heart thumped in my chest. I reached up and kissed him hard on the lips. He pulled me closer to him. Part of me wanted to believe him. To trust what he was saying. But a tiny seed of doubt grew in my gut. Could I really trust him? His aura told me yes. There were only good things there. Purity. Peace. Why couldn’t I let go of the doubt? Damn you, Stephen King!
“You!” came a loud scream from my left. “How dare you come here!” Elise was at my side, flanked by Julia and Natalia.
I broke away from Caleb. He seemed reluctant to let me go.
Elise’s eyes were red and puffy. Her aura, dark with anger and alcohol, leaped toward me violently. I shuddered as it struck mine.
“How dare you come here. Tonight is for her!” She ran a hand through her bleach-blond pixie cut. “Don’t you have any respect for the dead?” she slurred. “Get out.” She walked towards me. Natalia caught her by the arm and muttered something in her ear.
The music was cut. Everyone stopped dancing and looked to where the screaming was coming from. Caleb pulled me behind him protectively.
“The cops are looking for you, freak!” she yelled, the strap of her satin dress slipping off her shoulder. “I hope they lock you up!”
I shook my head. My mouth opened but no words came out.
“Look, Bianca didn’t do anything to Sheena.” Caleb’s voice was calm and strong. “She has as much right to be here tonight as you or anyone else.”
Elise’s date, Ryan, had come to her side in the middle of the crowd. “Hey buddy, you leave my date alone,” he said thickly.
“Your date is the one who started this.”
“She started this!” Julia chimed in, pointing a chubby finger toward me. “She started this when she killed our friend!”
“She needs to leave!” Elise screamed, tears filling her eyes.
Caleb lowered his voice. “Look, Elise, I’m really sorry about Sheena, but Bianca is not going anywhere.”
“You shouldn’t be here.” Julia folded her large arms in front of her and shook her head, the tight ringlets of her up-do wobbling as she did.
“Tonight is Sheena’s night!” Elise screamed, and then erupted into messy sobs. Her mascara trailed down her cheeks. She collapsed against Julia, who caught her and led her away. Natalia stood for a moment just staring at me then hurried after them.
“Dude.” Ryan walked up to Caleb. He was taller, well over six feet. He was on the football team and dumb as a post. “You just made my date cry. I oughta kick your ass!”
“Bad idea, Ryan!” Coach Wiley’s voice filled the auditorium, in that way only a teacher’s voice can. “If you do that, you’ll be on detention for a week!”
Ryan gaped at her.
“Which means you will miss training and the scouts from UCLA won’t see you play next week.”
Ryan stared at her blankly.
“I highly doubt you have a math scholarship to fall back on, son.”
“I wasn’t gonna actually kick his ass, Coach.”
“Sure you weren’t.” She flicked her head towards the door. “Off you go.”
Ryan stomped off in the same direction the others had.
“You two okay?” Coach Wiley said, her face impassive.
I nodded but I wasn’t okay. My body felt rigid and cold. Elise’s aura was full of hate and misery, and it was all directed at me. “I think I could use some air.”
“Good idea,” Coach Wiley replied. “Caleb, you can help her out.”
He took my hand and led me through the crowd towards the exit.
As I pushed through the doors, the cold night air hit like a wave. I slumped down on a step, heaving in large gulps of air.
Caleb came to my side. “Do you need anything? Water?”
“I’m fine.” I leaned forward and placed my head in my hands.
He rested a warm hand on my back, soothing me. “I know things are crazy at the moment, Bianca. But it will all calm down soon and everything will go back to normal.”
Normal. For me, normal was being the town freak and getting bullied on a daily basis. It was hanging out with my one friend and trying to keep my head down. That was until a few weeks ago. Now normal was being a shapeshifting unicorn, with a faerie for a best friend. Oh, and there was that small detail of having to save the world from an army of evil unicorns and their Master. But despite everything, I preferred my life right now to any normal I’d ever known before.
“I’m not sure I want things to go back to normal,” I said finally. “I mean, even with what happened in there, tonight has probably been the best night of my life.” I looked at him. “Because of you.”
Caleb smiled. “You have no idea how happy that makes me.” He leaned down and kissed me, his lips warm and soft against mine. He tasted sweet and a little sour; the tell-tale tang of vodka still on his mouth.
The blood in my veins quickened as my heart pumped furiously in my chest. I kissed him harder, pressing into him, slipping a hand inside his suit jacket and beneath his shirt. Our lips broke apart for a moment as I inhaled him, brushing kisses across his neck.
“Bianca,” he panted. “Are yo—”
I silenced him with my lips. Pushing him against the wall, I kissed him firmly, almost savagely. I could feel his hands searching for a way to reach my skin. He found the slit in the leg of my dress and his warm hands caressed my thigh.
“Is this okay?” Caleb asked.
“Yes,” I breathed. It felt so good to be touched. To be this close to another being. I’d kept my distance for so long. Now, I couldn’t. Not anymore.
“Bianca.” This time it wasn’t Caleb who spoke. “Bianca,” Sunder said again. “Where are you? It’s important you don’t get distracted…”
Argh! Couldn’t he leave me alone for one minute?
I kissed Caleb again, harder. My hand on his neck, I could feel the thump of his pulse.
“Bianca,” Sunder said again. “I need your aura to be clear to scan for Skadhavar. I haven’t heard from Claudios in a while. Please come back inside.”
Yeah, right! We both knew why he wanted me to go back inside: because he knew what I was doing and it was making him crazy with jealousy. Well, he could go to hell.
I slid my hand down Caleb’s stomach, feeling his warm flesh beneath my palm.
Caleb caught my hand. “Bianca,” he whispered. “I want this. I really do. But not here. Not like this.”
My face fell. Even the dark couldn’t hide my disappointment. My feelings of rejection.
“Hey.” He placed a hand on my face. “Believe me, I am just as into this as you are. It’s just…your mom’s inside.”
I managed a smile.
“And,” he went on. “I haven’t actually…yet.” He dropped his gaze.
“You haven’t? But you went out with Anna for…”
“Two years.” He shook his head. “Never happened.”
“Oh.” I smiled, my cheeks reddening at the intimacy of the conversation. “Well, me neither. But you probably figured.”
He looked puzzled.
I went on. “You know. The school freak doesn’t usually have her pick of the boys.”
“Bianca, you are not the school freak.” He laughed. “The guy who wears full red outfits every day and the girl who only speaks Pig-Latin are far weirder than you. I’m sorry to strip you of your title, but you are not the school freak.”
I laughed as he took my hand, weaving his fingers through mine.
“Sorry Bianca, but you’re just plain beautiful.”
He kissed me again. Gently. Tenderly. It was more than a kiss. His aura stroking mine was genuine. His heart was pure and he was offering it to me. If only, I thought, if only he could know me. But there were things he wouldn’t know, couldn’t know. Could I ever give myself to him completely if I couldn’t even tell him the truth about what I was?
A piercing scream ripped through the night air, pulling us apart. I stared at Caleb wide-eyed, my pulse quickening.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“What was that?” Caleb gasped.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him into a run. “We have to go.”
“Bianca, wait,” he said, pulling me into him. “Stay behind me, we don’t know what that was.”
He had no idea that I was the one trying to keep him safe.
I followed him at a hobbled run; I knew I shouldn’t have worn heels. I threw my aura out, combing the vicinity for hollow spots in the veil around us.
“Bianca! Where the hell are you?” came Sunder’s icy voice in my head.
I scanned the area outside the auditorium, pushing my aura out. An icy nothingness hit me with a jolt. They were dotted throughout the area like cancers: A cluster of dead spots in the veil. It was as if a blanket had been pulled off my head allowing me to see again.
As we neared the doors of the auditorium, a cold, dead chill grazed my aura. One of them was close. Very close. Probably the cause of the scream.
“Get inside!” I yelled at Caleb. He looked back at me, confused, as the door swung open.
On the other side of it stood Sunder, my mom and Cendrine.
“Where have you been?” my mom snapped, taking me by the arm. “I’ve been frantic!”
“I needed air,” I replied quickly, readjusting my dress.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Do I need to have the safe sex talk with you?”
“Mom! This is not the time!”
“When is a good time, Bianca? Look at you! Your lipstick’s smudged and your hair’s a mess. You’re out there doing god knows what with a boy you ha
rdly know!
“Oh like you care, Mom. All you are worried about is Fae and her”—I held up air quotes—“problem.”
“Bianca, that is not true! You think I don’t care that my daughter is outside acting like a—”
“Like a what, Mom? Are you seriously slut-shaming me right now?”
She shook her head. “Oh Bee, if your father were here.”
“OH DON’T YOU DARE!” I spat. All the resentment I’d been feeling for my mother floated to the surface in an instant. “My father? You mean the guy you never told me about? Well if my father were here you know what he’d see?” I went on. “He’d see YOU! Hooking up with Hyssop. That’s what he’d see! Well, he’s not here, Mom. Because he’s DEAD. The Skadhavar killed him!” The moment it left my lips I regretted it. I swallowed. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to go and kill them.”
Pain ripped through her aura before the first tear fell. She brought her hands to her mouth. I watched as her face crumpled.
“Mom,” I started, but she held up a hand, turned, and walked away, her pumps clacking against the floor.
Tears burned behind my eyes. I blinked them away. I hadn’t meant to tell her. Not now. Not like that.
“Bianca, are you okay? What was all that about?” Caleb was at my side.
I shook my head. “Long story.”
Sunder pushed past him. “Bianca!” he snapped, his eyes wild and furious.
I didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Yes, I know! I am the worst kind of person! But more importantly, Caleb and I heard a scream.”
“What?”
“They’re outside. They’re everywhere. I think there’s been an attack.”
Sunder swore.
“Bianca,” Caleb said, his face full of confusion. “What’s going on?”
I bit my lip. Where would I even start?
Cendrine came to his side, her glow soothing his querying mind. “Caleb, let’s find the others, shall we? Perhaps get you a drink.” She led him away.
“You didn’t sense this earlier?” Sunder said with a scowl.
“No, I told you, they’ve blocked me. I can only sense them when they’re almost on top of me.”
Bianca De Lumière : High Suspense Urban Fantasy Romance (The Re'em Prophecy Book 1) Page 20
